INFORMATION

READING IMAGES - THE GRAMMAR OF VISUAL DESIGN

Gunther Kress & Theo van Leeuwen
Routledge, 2006, ISBN-13: 978-0415319157

Tran Thi Hieu Thuy*

VNU University of Languages and International Studies,
Pham Van Dong, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam

1. Introduction which commonly signifies interpretation of a

“Print- and screen-based technologies”
have innovated the definition of literacy.
The traditional definitions are no longer
comprehensive enough in a world where
texts are becoming increasingly multimodal
- they communicate to us through graphics,
pictures, layout techniques as well as through
words. In fact, “it is difficult these days to
find a single text which uses solely verbal
English” (Goodman, 1996). Visual literacy,
as its name suggests,  denotes the ability to
interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from
information presented in the form of an image.
This notion extends the meaning of  literacy,
* Tel.: 84-902323386
Email: thuytth@vnu.edu.vn
written or printed text.
Visual images, like all representations,
“are never innocent or neutral reflections of
reality...they re-present for us: that is, they offer
not a mirror of the world but an interpretation
of it” (Midalia, 1999, p. 131). For that reason,
several questions are posed to the viewers.
Some common ones might be “How can we
come to justified and grounded meaning(s) of
the picture?”; and “How can we understand the
basic structure of an image text?” (Hermawan,
2011, p.147). The path of seeking answers to
these questions suggests that there should be an
underlying pattern or structure that people can
rely on to interpret the meaning of visual texts.
To this direction, Reading Images: The
Grammar of Visual Design (second edition),
by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, offers
“a usable description of major compositional
structures which have become established in the
course of the history of Western visual semiotics,
and to analyse how they are used to produce
meaning by contemporary image-makers” (p.1).
Building on the reputation of the first edition
(1996) as “the first systematic and comprehensive
account of the grammar of visual design”
(https://books.google.com.vn/books/about/Reading_
Images.html?id=wprZmJFXUXIC&redir_esc=y),
this second publication (2006) updates its data
VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.33, No.6 (2017) 164-168
source with new materials on moving images,
colours, web and web-based images, as well as
anticipates the future of visual communication.
Taking Hallidayan social semiotic approach
to language as the framework, Reading
Images offers a model of three accounts for
images: representational meaning, interactional
meaning, compositional meaning. Kress and van
Leeuwen consider the model of three accounts
works well not only for language but also for
thinking about all modes of representation,
hence images (p.20). They also claim to provide
the readers of the book with a handy “tool-kit”
for reading images throughout the explanation
of theory and sample visual analysis. The book
consists of eight chapters and a complimentary
postscript, each of which is summarized in the
following part.
2. A journey of the book
The journey of Reading Images: The
Grammar of Visual Design (second edition)
starts with justification of the authors on
what they really mean by “grammar” and
why they use “the grammar of visual design”
as a subtitle of the book. As followers of the
Hallidayan School, they see grammatical
forms as resources for encoding interpretations
of experience and forms of social (inter)
action. Their “visual grammar” is a “general
grammar of contemporary visual design in
“Western” cultures, an account of explicit
and implicit knowledge and practices around
a resource, consisting of the elements and
rules underlying a culture-specific form of
visual communication” (p.3). Also in this
Introduction section, the authors explain how
the Social Semiotic Theory of Representation
lays a solid theoretical framework for their
work on visual representation. They exemplify
several child-drawings in order to clarify what
is meant by sign-making, the signifiers and
the signified. Kress and van Leeuwen notice
that visual design, in their belief, fulfils the
165
three metafunctions – ideational function,
interpersonal function and textual function as
in Halliday’s terms.
Chapter 1, The semiotic landscape:
language and visual communication,
discusses in detail the themes that the two
authors have touched upon in the Introduction.
Kress and van Leewen would like to treat
images as seriously as linguistic forms
in communication; and by doing so, they
refuse Barthes’ argument that “the meaning
of images (and of other semiotic codes) is
always related to, and in a sense, depended
on verbal text” (Barthes, 1967, cited in Kress
& van Leewen, 2006, p.17). Basing on their
analysis of several examples of visual literacy
from books for young children, Kress and
van Leewen prove the need for redrawing
the boundary between the mode of writing
and the visual arts as well as introducing the
concept of design to education. The chapter
ends with a note on social semiotic theory of
communication where the authors summarize
key points about each metafunction and note
on which chapter(s) readers can find specific
explanations and example analysis for each.
The next two chapters deal with patterns of
presentation which the “grammar of visual
design” makes available, and therefore, “with the
way we can encode experience visually” (p. 15).
Chapter 2, Narrative representations:
Designing social action, addresses the issue
of narrative representation. The chapter labels
those involved in the messages exchange
asrepresented participants, i.e. what/who are
in the visuals, and interactive participants, i.e.
who participate in the act of communication.
A large proportion of this chapter is then
devoted to narrative processes which are
categorized into different types according
to the kinds of vector and the number and
kind of participants involved. Examples
for analysis in this chapter are taken mostly
from newspapers and photographs. The
authors finish the chapter with a table giving
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the correspondences between linguistic and
visual narrative processes.
The issue of conceptual representation
is elaborated in Chapter 3 – Conceptual
representations: Designing social
constructs. In this chapter, Kress and
van Leeuwencategorize processes into
classificational, analytical, symbolic, and
embedding. The authors complete the chapter
by discussing “the points of contact between
the way conceptual structures are realized
in language and images”. For example,
they explain that the Visual Classificational
and Analytical structures may be similar to
Intensive and Possessive Attribute clauses
respectively. They also note that there are
more differences than similarities since in
many cases we cannot figure out the linguistic
equivalence of the visual semiotic.
Chapters 4 and 5 deal with patterns of
interaction, or in other words, “what we
can do to, or for, each other with visual
communication, and with the relations
between the makers and viewers of visual
texts which this entails” (p.15).
Chapter 4, Representation and interaction:
designing the position of the viewer, shifts to the
interaction between the image and the viewer.
Here Kress and van Leeuwen explicate how
images place the audience into a given position.
They also explain that since the producers
are absent from the place where the actual
communication is completed, social relations
and the relations between the producer and the
viewer are “represented rather than enacted”
(p.116). The direction of the look, the gaze of
represented participant, the size of frame, and
the viewing angle all play important roles in
identifying the relation between the represented
participants and the interactive participants.
Chapter 5, Modality: designing models of
reality, looks for how to evaluate the credibility
of the images and thus the messages offered
by the images. Kress and van Leeuwen remind
readers that modality markers in the messages
and textual cues are what we rely on to weigh
the reliability of the information we receive. The
authors go on reasoning why modality should
be “interpersonal” rather than “ideational”, and
basing on such justification, concluding that in
visual communication, modality judgements
are dependent on “what is considered real (or
true, or scared) in the social group for which the
representation is primarily intended” (p.156).
Colours, hence, serve as “a marker of naturalistic
modality” in terms of three scales: colour
saturation, colour differentiation, and colour
modulation. Other key markers of visual modality
include contextualization, representation, depth,
illumination, and brightness. Producers of
visuals can configure the modality choices to
express specific meanings.
While Chapter 6, The meaning of
composition, works with the “textual”
function, the way in which “representations
and communicative acts cohere into
meaningful whole” (p.15), Chapter 7,
Materiality and meaning, specifies the
materiality of visual designs – the tools to
make them with and the materials to make
them on. Both of them are hence devoted to
the discussion of meanings. Chapter 6 details
the compositional meaning of the design and
takes examples from a variety of sources to
illustrate how compositional meaning can be
built through factors of information value,
salience and framing. Meanwhile, in chapter
7, the authors discuss the role of technology
and further elaborate the function of colours.
Chapter 8, The third dimension, is in fact
a courageous effort of the authors to try out
the application of visual grammar for three-
dimensional visual and moving images.
The journey of Reading Images closes
with the postscript of the authors, which
presents a final example of a child’s painting.
Here they analyse the painting in all three
meanings: representational, conceptual and
compositional in order to prove that “the
cognitive and the affective are not antithetical
but inevitably always co-present.”
VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.33, No.6 (2017) 164-168
3. Evaluation and application
3.1. Contribution
Reading Images: The Grammar of
Visual Design provides a systematic and
comprehensive account of grammar of visual
design. Built on a strong foundation of social
semiotic theory, the book serves as insightful
notions and detailed information on how to
understand visuals. It is of particular interest
to graphic designer researchers since it has
established frameworks to understand the ways
in which theoretical design questions can be
asked and answered. The book is also valuable
to linguistic researchers whose research interests
are within the field of multimodal discourse.
This publication has also been designed in
a user-friendly mode, with chapters following
quite the same organization: starting with an
introduction into the theoretical background
for the issue, extending into arguments for the
framework, followed by detailed analysis of
example visuals with constant reference to the
framework, and ending with a charted summary
of the framework. The ready-made “tool-kit”
for understanding visuals proposed in the book
is of practical application for those who want
to break down the images into observable
tiny pieces to comprehend their meanings.
To me, Reading Images: The Grammar of
Visual Design proves an excellent source of
knowledge to study visual designs, without
which, it must be very challenging, elusive
and nearly impossible to make meaning of.
Its authors, Kress and van Leewen, are indeed
pioneering a largely unexplored territory.
3.2. Critique
While being considered as the first
systematic and comprehensive account of
grammar of visual design, the series of Reading
Images in general are not flawless, according
to a number of researchers. However, little
critique can be found regarding the 2006
edition of Reading Images: The Grammar
of Visual Design. In this section, I will try to
draw on reviewing articles of the first edition
167
and compare the reviewers’ viewpoints with
what I can observe in the second edition.
Forceville (1999) expresses his concern
about a number of problems relating to
methodology and perspective in the approach of
Kress and van Leewen. According to Forceville,
though defining the eight markers of visual
modality and saying sensible things about each
of these markers, Kress and van Leewen “have
not provided enough discussion on how some
of them relate to one another, and how they
can be used in the practical analysis of specific
pictures”. In the 2006 edition, I also question
the relation between the named visual modality
markers, and observe a lack of thorough analysis
of given colored photos (Plate 1 to Plate 8).
Forceville (1999) asserts that in the 1996
book there are a substantial number of pictures
whose interpretations are debatable, and he
quotes several visual analyses in the book to
illustrate. When comparing the two editions,
I realize that in the new one, Kress and van
Leewen do remove a number of images with
questionable interpretations; however, for those
that they have decided to keep, they persist on
the existing explanations. Yet, there is no official
reasoning from the authors as for on what criteria
they decide to retain or omit certain images.
Haught (2012) doubts the reliability of many
hypotheses presented in the book. He adds that
though he places beliefs in most hypotheses,
there should be qualitative and quantitative
research being done to test them. Haught (2012)
mentions, for example, Kress and van Leewen’s
argument that visuals provide a rich and unique
mode of communication for humans. While he
accepts that this might be true, he calls for visual
communication researchers to “build theory
regarding representation and rhetoric based in
what is seen, and not what is said”. Haught also
remarks that in his opinion, the idea that social
semiotics can be used for modal symbol analysis
“requires an additional layer of rigor to attach
the correct societal mode to its symbolism” and
168 T.T.H. Thuy / VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.33, No.6 (2017) 164-168
looks for Kress and van Leeuween’s rationale
for using social semiotics in the first place. In the
2006 edition, the two authors have noted that the
new version “offers a much more comprehensive
theory of visual communication”, and they
have dedicated a significant proportion of the
Introduction and Chapter 1 to explain how a social
semiotic theory works for visual communication.
4. Application
For people with linguistics background,
the accounts of visual grammar presented in
the book help break down images into more
accessible, interpretable objects for studying.
The book offers a framework for still
image analysis in “Western culture”, which is
perfectly what I am looking for to frame my
research. The most valuable part of the book to
my work lies in Chapters 1 to 7 since Chapter
8 concentrates on 3-D and moving objects. I
believe to benefit a great deal from the charted
summary of each chapter since the highlighted
points here can function as the key to direct my
analysis. Also, I learn from the way the authors
analyse still images, especially those depicting
maps (Figure 2.13), residence (Figure 5.9),
food (Plate 4), to name but a few. As for
analyses of fine arts like sculpture, surrealism
works and such, though my research does not
concern with the area, they still prove excellent
examples to understand the theory.
There are challenges in applying the
presented theory into practice, though.
Seen from the book, each image offers so
many aspects to study on. Therefore, I am
considering either to focus on one or two
metafunction(s) only or to narrow down
the number of images being included in
my research inventory. Besides, there is
an urgent need to trace back to Social
Semiotics Approach by Halliday so as to
map the concepts for textual analysis to the
appropriate ones for visual analysis.
I would highly recommend Reading
Images: The Grammar of Visual Design
(2006) to anyone interested in communication,
the media and the arts as well as those who
are fascinated by the strong migration of plain
written texts to the multi-semiotic Internet-based
texts. As we move from a culture dominated by
language to one in which visual literacy becomes
increasingly important, this book provides an
invaluable “tool kit” for comprehending images.
References
Forceville, C. (1999). Educating the eye?: Kress and
Van Leeuwen’s Reading Images: The Grammar of
Visual Design (1996). In Language and Literature
8 (2), 163-78.
Goodman, S. (1996). Visual English. In Goodman, S.
and Graddol, D. (eds), Redesigning English: new
text, new identities. London: Routledge
Haught, M. (2012). REVIEW: Reading images: The
grammar of visual design. Retrieved August 10th 2017
from http://www.mattjhaught.com/2012/07/11/review-
reading-images-the-grammar-of-visual-design/
Hermawan, B. (2011). REVIEW: Reading images: The
grammar of visual design. In CONAPLIN JOURNAL
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, I(1), 147-148
Midalia, S. (1999). Textualising Gender. In
Interpretations, 32(1), 27-32.
https://books.google.com.vn/books/about/Reading_
Images.html?id=wprZmJFXUXIC&redir_esc=y
The authors
Gunther Rolf Kress is Professor of
Semiotics and Education at the Institute of
Education, University of London. His interests
are meaning-making and communication in
contemporary environments; with an interest
in developing a social semiotic theory of
multimodal communication. (https://www.uea.
ac.uk/lcs/research/news-and-events/gunther-kress)
Theo van Leeuwen is Professor of
Multimodal Communication at the University
of Southern Denmark, Odense, Emeritus
Professor at the University of Technology,
Sydney, and Honorary Professor at the
University of New South Wales, the Australian
Catholic University and the University of
Lancaster. He researches and writes about
social semiotics, multimodality, visual
communication and critical discourse analysis.
( https://semioticon.com/semiotix/2013/12/
semiotic-profile-theo-van-leeuwen/)